Appropriators Complete FY 2003 Defense Funding Bill

Last night, House and Senate appropriators agreed on a final version of the FY 2003 Defense Appropriations bill. The $355 billion bill contains a 16.2% increase for defense science and technology programs. Almost all categories of S&T spending received an increase.

The conference report on this legislation (107-732) can be accessed at http://thomas.loc.gov/ . Some of the following figures were provided by the Coalition for National Security Research (CNSR).

The Quadrennial Defense Review Report, issued last fall, called for defense S&T programs to receive 3% of the total defense budget (see 2001 FYI #130 ). This goal was also recommended in a recently released Defense Science Board report that will be the subject of a forthcoming FYI. CNSR, to which AIP and several of its Member Societies belong, also recommended 3% of the DOD budget for the 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 programs. The bill that was finalized last night provides 3.2%.

The changes from the current budget in this final FY 2003 appropriations bill follow:

AGGREGATE 6.1 (basic research) funding would increase 8.7%, or $120 million, to $1,495 million.
AGGREGATE 6.2 (applied research) funding would increase 12.5%, or $512 million, to $4,599 million.
AGGREGATE 6.3 (advanced technology development) funding would increase 21.7%, or $959 million, to $5,374 million.
TOTAL AGGREGATE 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would increase 16.2%, or $1,591 million, from $9,877 million to $11,468 million. This is $1,469 million above the Administration request.

ARMY 6.1 funding would increase 13.4%, or $31 million, to $262 million.
ARMY 6.2 funding would increase 2.2%, or $20 million, to $930 million.
ARMY 6.3 funding would increase 20.6%, or $187 million, to $1,097 million.
TOTAL AGGREGATE ARMY 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would increase 11.6%, or $238 million, from $2,051 million to $2,289 million.

NAVY 6.1 funding would increase 4.2%, or $17 million, to $422 million.
NAVY 6.2 funding would increase 5.8%, or $45 million, to $822 million.
NAVY 6.3 funding would decline 3.9%, or $34 million, to $836 million.
TOTAL AGGREGATE NAVY 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would increase 1.4%, or $28 million, from $2,052 million to $2,080 million.

AIR FORCE 6.1 funding would decline 0.9%, or $2 million, to $224 million.
AIR FORCE 6.2 funding would increase 12.6%, or $97 million, to $865 million.
AIR FORCE 6.3 funding would increase 25.5%, or $146 million, to $718 million.
TOTAL AGGREGATE AIR FORCE 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would increase 15.4%, or $241 million, from $1,566 million to $1,807 million.

DEFENSE-WIDE 6.1 funding would increase 14.4%, or $74 million, to $587 million.
DEFENSE-WIDE 6.2 funding would increase 21.4%, or $350 million, to $1,982 million.
DEFENSE WIDE 6.3 funding would increase 32.0%, or $660 million, to $2,723 million.
TOTAL AGGREGATE DEFENSE-WIDE funding (for DARPA, defense labs, etc.) would increase 25.8%, or $1,084 million, from $4,208 million to $5,292 million.